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The Cognitive Difficulties Scale (CDS): Psychometric Characteristics in a Clinical Referral Sample

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2020

Carlton S. Gass Open the ORCID record for Carlton S. Gass [Opens in a new window] ,
Brooke Patten ,
Ailyn Penate  and
Alice Rhodes
Carlton S. Gass*
Affiliation:
Memory Disorders Clinic, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Brooke Patten
Affiliation:
Memory Disorders Clinic, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Ailyn Penate
Affiliation:
Memory Disorders Clinic, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Tallahassee, FL, USA
Alice Rhodes
Affiliation:
Memory Disorders Clinic, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Tallahassee, FL, USA
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Carlton S. Gass, 2214 Genevieve CT, Tallahassee, FL32312, USA. E-mail: Carlton.Gass@TMH.org
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Abstract

Objective:

To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Cognitive Difficulties Scale (CDS), a 39-item Likert-type self-report instrument that requires a fifth grade reading level. The CDS is a popular instrument that has been shown to predict cognitive decline in older persons.

Method:

Participants were 512 consecutive outpatient referrals (71% women, mean age 60.6, and education 14.6 years) for a neuropsychological examination in a memory disorders clinic as part of a broader neurodiagnostic workup for cognitive decline. A principal components analysis was followed by a varimax rotation (Kaiser). Factor scores were investigated in relation to multiple internal and external criteria including demographics, Cronbach’s alpha, Digit Span, and Wechsler Memory Scale-IV Logical Memory (LM) and Visual Reproduction (VR), and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)-2 measures of depression, anxiety, somatic preoccupations, and thought disturbance.

Results:

Six dimensions of cognitive complaint emerged accounting for 64% of the variance: attention/concentration, praxis, prospective memory, speech problems, memory for people’s names, and temporal orientation. The factors showed good internal consistency (alphas > .850). Correlations with Digit Span, LM, and VR were all nonsignificant. CDS scores were associated with MMPI-2 measures of anxiety, depression, somatic preoccupation, and thought disturbance. Percentiles and T-scores were derived for raw scores on the CDS and its six component subscales.

Conclusion:

The CDS is a multidimensional measure of subjective cognitive complaints that provides clinicians with a psychometrically sound basis for deriving a profile with six subscale scores. The test has clinical utility and is a potentially useful tool in research involving age-related cognitive changes and meta-cognition.

Keywords

Meta-cognitionDementiaElderly/agingEveryday functionLearning and memoryMood (anxiety, depression)
Type
Regular Research
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , April 2021 , pp. 351 - 364
Copyright
Copyright © INS. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020

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